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SAVE THE DATE: April 27–28, 2012
TechFocus II: Caring for Film and Slide Art
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
The Electronic Media Group of the American Institute for Conservation,
the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Foundation of the
American Institute for Conservation (FAIC) are pleased to announce an
important new two-day workshop: TechFocus II: Caring for Film and
Slide Art.
Projected motion picture film and slides are in a state of crisis. Far
more quickly than anyone could have anticipated, these technologies
will soon reach obsolescence. Options for duplication and preservation
are narrowing rapidly. Our collective familiarity and technical
understanding of this material is fading. Yet artists continue to
create vital works using film and slides, and earlier works by
important artists are being shown in museums with increasing
frequency.
TechFocus II is designed to educate conservators, curators and other
art professionals about the technology of film and slide-based
artworks, and to recommend best practices for acquisition,
preservation and display. As part of this instruction, the workshop
includes a unique “School of Seeing”: actual films and slides are
projected as examples of different production processes, so that
participants can gain an accurate understanding of the principles
being discussed.
Moreover, this workshop will provide a forum for international
professionals to gather and debate strategies for collective action in
the face of disappearing film stocks, obsolete equipment, and
declining expertise.
The TechFocus workshop series is being organized by the AIC Electronic
Media Group to provide detailed technical education in the
preservation of media art. Launched on the 10th anniversary of the
groundbreaking TechArcheology symposium that was held at the San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2000, TechFocus offers in-depth
instruction in a broad range of media. Each workshop, hosted by a
different institution, is dedicated to one specific media-art
technology. A systematic lecture program, delivered by international
experts, introduces workshop participants to the technology behind
these artworks, and offers real-world guidelines for their
preservation.
The workshop is being made possible by the generous support of the
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, FAIC, and the Smithsonian
Institution Archives. TechFocus II Planning Committee: Jeff Martin,
Christine Frohnert, Joanna Phillips, Eric Pourchot with Susan Lake,
Sarah Stauderman, and Gwynne Ryan
Full program, fee details and registration will be made available on
the AIC website soon: www.conservation-us.org/courses
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